After beginning my journey into affiliate marketing and other web based opportunities, I recently had lunch with a friend who is very successful in the Network Marketing industry. If you aren’t quite sure what network marketing is, then think of companies like Avon, Mary Kay, and Herbalife. Yes, I know that will probably bring up instant feelings about MLM (multi-level-marketing) businesses, with opinions that revolve around the phrase “pyramid scheme”. To be honest, I pretty much felt this way myself. In fact I felt that there was no way a common person could ever be successful with it until recently. Over the past two years I had noticed that several friends of mine had signed up with various network marketing companies. Most ended up doing nothing with it, but a couple of them actually did well enough to quit their regular jobs and jump in full time with their new venture. So this sparked some curiosity and I decided to find out some more. After digging in, I discovered a few things about networking marketing that either makes it a good or bad decision for you. Yes, it is a very viable option for some, while others should steer clear of it all together. Let’s break down the how’s and why’s. Network Marketing Cons The immediate con that needs to be overcome by anyone thinking about jumping in, is your initial opinion. We all have visions of candle and makeup parties, while perpetually bugging the hell out of our friends and family to try and shame them into signing up into your organization. Is this the truth for some?...

If you are like me at all, you constantly have a flow of ideas for new businesses, websites, and more. While a creative mind is a fantastic thing for anyone looking to be income independent, it can also be an Achilles heel. The prioritization of current projects with planning and starting up new ones can be daunting even for the most seasoned entrepreneur. So how do you go about juggling everything while maintaining productivity? This could be a very complicated answer but fortunately for you, I’ve spent the time in your very shoes to provide some tips on how to manage it all. 1. Don’t Bury Yourself Let’s say you are currently running two different projects: a drop shipping business and a niche e-commerce store. The drop shipping game has been running smoothly now that you have the process down and you are starting to finally get some organic traffic to your niche c-commerce website. Now you’re itching to fire up something new and shiny. The allure of new is always going to be easy to fall for. First you need to step back and really give your current operations a good review. Can they operate well with you giving them significantly less face time? Remember when starting these off, how much work was involved in getting them set up and running correctly? You will need to be able to take time away from them to get the hot newness going. Can you afford to take the hit in income or will they continue to run smoothly? Only when your current lines of business are taken care of and can run for a...

Tax season is upon us, but as a new business owner you must realize that all year is actually tax season. Keeping these tips in the back of your mind will keep you ahead of the game and organized when it comes time to officially file. While reading through this list remember that these are just general tips and should never take the place of advice and guidance from a seasoned tax professional. So before launching any strategy or taking any deduction, consult a pro so you don’t get in trouble with the man. This may be a lengthy read for some, but taking the time to learn how to properly file taxes as a new business owner is worth the extra couple of minutes. 1. Business Structure How you set up your business will effect how you pay taxes on your income. As a sole proprietor you will pay self-employment taxes on the entire amount that you earn. If you decide to go the LLC route, you can then elect what to be treated as a “S Corporation” or “S Corp” for short, which can help reduce your self-employment taxes. You can do this with an S Corporation because you are allowed to pay yourself a “reasonable” salary, which is subject to employment taxes such as FICA, Medicare and Social Security, and then any remaining profits can be taken as a profit distribution or “dividends”, which are not subject to to those employment taxes. For example, you are a web designer and as a sole proprietor made $50,000 last year. You would have to pay employment taxes on the whole...

One of the most popular affiliate programs around is Amazon associates. Stop just buying from Amazon and start getting paid to sell their endless list of products. One of the easiest ways to get started with an online business, is through affiliate programs. One of the biggest ones out there is the Amazon Associates program. The overall concept is pretty simple, sign up with the Amazon Associates affiliate program and earn commissions by sending Amazon customers. Like any internet marketing platform, the name of the game is traffic. When trying to make money online it’s all about the numbers. Amazon Associates is no different, but because of the huge quantity of different products, it’s very easy to carve out a niche to test and promote. If you don’t know how to research and find niches, head over and read our article on how to chose profitable niches first, then come back here. After signing up, review their commission structure for all of the various categories of products. Most start at 4% and some can get as high as 15%. Typically the more products you can get sold, the higher the commission rate, though there are some categories, like electronics, that will limit you to 4% regardless of quantity. This is because of Amazon’s very thin profit margins on things like TVs, tablets, and more. Once you’re familiar with what you can earn and you’ve found a niche to test out, it’s time to start building your website. Ranking naturally, or organically, is going to take some time and work, so you need to think about how you want to drive immediate...

If you have been reading about internet marketing and making money on online, chances are that you have heard about Google Adwords. If you haven’t, I’ll sum it very quickly for you. Google Adwords are the sponsored ads you see all over the internet, whether it be on a website as an ad displayed alongside content, or the sponsored ads that you see above, beside, and below the search results, also known as the organic listings, when you search for something on Google. Becoming proficient with Google Adwords can open a huge door of opportunity for you while you build your internet empire. It provides a way to get your site or products in front of people, on the first page of search results, while you wait on your website to slowly climb the ranks of the results pages via search engine optimization (SEO). Experts in the field of pay per click (PPC) marketing can spend years learning the ins and outs of Adwords, but as you get started with it, there are several things that you should know immediately. So in my 8 years of being a PPC analyst and after creating and managing almost $6 million dollars in Adwords spend, below are some of my tips for any beginner in PPC. Be Specific Adwords will work infinitely better for you if your ads and keywords are all highly targeted and specific to what you are trying to advertise. It may seem like a no-brainer, but let me explain this. Of course if you are selling mens shoes, you are not going to write an ad for ladies jackets....

Let me preface this post with this, your very first internet project needs to be about something you really enjoy. In fact all of your projects should revolve around things that don’t bore you to death. There’s a ton of money to be made in FOREX affiliate programs, but if you have little to no interest in investments and foreign currency exchanges, chances are you will burn out quickly and never make a dime. With that out of the way, lets talk about why building a website or other internet projects around specific niches is important. First, it keeps you focused on one topic and forces you to really evaluate each idea instead of just jumping in and worrying about how you are going to build and monetize it later. Yes, I’m all about “just do it” but you do have to have a plan, otherwise you’ll get three posts into your new venture, get stuck or bored, and let it meet a slow and unproductive fate. With that said, you probably have a ton of ideas flowing around in that mind of yours, how do you find the ones that will give you the best chance of success? Before you get started, you’ll need to sign up for Google Adwords here, even if you don’t plan on using Adwords as an advertising platform, there are a some great free tools that will help you along the way. So let’s get to the steps: 1. Brainstorm Grab an old fashioned piece of paper and start writing down everything you are remotely interested in. Seriously, nothing is to outlandish. What we...

When starting any new internet based project you need to know a couple of things: One, what is it’s purpose and Two, how are you going to fulfill that purpose. For me, my projects’ purposes are about building passive income channels that over time will begin to add to up to a certain amount. Will it be easy, no. A lot of people dream about making a money online, but rarely do many people start the journey and even fewer stick with it. For this post’s sake, lets say that you took the dive. You went out, bought a shiny new domain, and have even visited your local Ferrari dealer’s website to start shopping. But before you can purchase that shiny new private jet, you need to build a foundation for your project. This way, as you move forward, you have an established web presence to build and present your content from. So what is a web presence? I would say it is all of the ways you can connect to your audience. Whether it be through Facebook, Twitter, message boards or anywhere else people can find and interact with your project. Even if you are running an idea that isn’t full of consistent fresh content, you still want a way to reach your potential clients or followers. Now there is a such thing as overkill, you don’t need to sign up for every social media platform under the sun. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr have over 1.5 billion active total accounts together, with tons of ways to drill down and find the right people for your niche. Find what’s...

The very premise of this entire blog is making money online or “internet marketing” as some would call it. I am going to cover more than just internet marketing, but I want to make sure that I provide the proper seeds for those who are here for it. As I move forward there will be more in depth posts on each of these with basic blue prints on getting started. Read this list with the correct mindset: you will have to learn, constantly adapt, and work hard to build a sustaining online business of any type. My suggestion is picking two or three from the list and get familiar with them. My first big tip to anyone wanting to start making money online is to diversify your knowledge and revenue streams. The point is that over time as you build your internet empire, make sure to earn from more than just one method. That way if something happens during a month and you lose one revenue stream, you don’t lose 100% of your income. With that, let’s get to the list, which is in no particular order. 1. Blogging You’ve heard of it, you may even have friends with blogs. You’re actually reading a blog right now. You can write about pretty much anything and once you start getting people to visit your blog you can begin monetizing it. From ads to selling things, there are many ways to make money from one. The big key to blogging is creating unique content and regularly. Also, pick subjects you are interested in as you’ll get burned out very quickly on subjects and...

At first, I decided to start Grind Not Mind as a way to remain accountable to myself and my goals of becoming an independent internet marketing kung fu master. As I began to brainstorm and build, I quickly realized that I wanted GNM to become more than that. Yes, it could serve me in my original intent, but my documenting process could serve as a guide for others interested in internet marketing. I found that I wanted to inspire others to stop thinking about improving themselves and their lives and actually do it! Not just in internet marketing, but in whatever area of life you want to improve, because tomorrow will never change unless you do something different today. To start, I have been reading about and dabbling in internet marketing since 2006. Along the way I have also met some incredibly inspiring people and a little later I plan on having them do some guest posts about what they do and their individual stories. For me, the big change came in 2012 when I experienced a huge career change and was given a great opportunity to finally turn my internet marketing hobby into a real paid position. In the two years that I have now been doing this professionally I have learned two things about myself: 1. I absolutely love what I do and 2. Working Monday through Friday, nine-to-five, and living the cubicle life everyday, is not the life I want live. So I decided it was time to get things rolling. I’ve started several businesses before, so I created an LLC or Limited Liability Corporation as it is one...

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Who is Mike Rioux?

Having been in internet marketing since 2006, I became a paid professional PPC manager at a large web services company in 2012. In 2014 I realized I wanted the freedom of a true IM lifestyle and GNM was born. Follow along, learn some things, and don't forget to Like Us on Facebook.